"Difficult to work with" - Road Dogg comments on 5-time WWE Champion walking out of the company
Road Dogg (aka Brian James) has highlighted that CM Punk always had a backstage reputation for being difficult to work with in WWE.
The tag team legend briefly spoke about Punk walking out of WWE before WrestleMania 30 on his podcast and provided an honest recollection of the incident.
Road Dogg clarified that he wasn't part of WWE's "inner circle" at the time and didn't have all the details about The Second City Saint's decision to quit. However, the WWE Hall of Famer was aware of Punk's standing in the locker room.
Brian James noted that company officials had difficulties dealing with Punk behind the scenes, which may have contributed to his WWE exit. Here's what Road Dogg stated on his Oh...You Didn't Know podcast:
"Look, I just remember he was kind of difficult to work with. And I didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. I hadn't been there that long, and I wasn't in the inner circle. If this had happened three years later, I would have probably known a lot more of what was going on behind the scenes. So, I didn't really know what was going on with him, but I know he was hard to deal with." [4:22 - 4:43]
"We did the best we could to do our stuff around him" - Road Dogg on working with CM Punk in WWE
Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were active in-ring competitors in 2014 and wrestled a couple of six-man tag team matches with CM Punk in their corner.
The New Age Outlaws didn't have any issues in the ring with CM Punk, as the iconic tandem found the time to execute their well-known spots. Road Dogg added that Punk's unceremonious WWE departure happened due to professional disagreements, and there might not have been any personal agenda behind the move:
Road Dogg continued:
"Maybe that, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that that's why it was. It wasn't personal issues, but there were professional issues. Compared to how I and his relationship, he wouldn't have talked to me about it. So, and it was just, me and Billy just kind of looked at each other, like, Woah, what do we do here? So, we did the best we could to do our stuff around him and let him be him, and we'll be us, and you know how that worked out." [4:44 - 5:12]
Did CM Punk just re-injure his foot in these early minutes?! Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS! https://t.co/gTiqp9dRL0
CM Punk is still quite a controversial name in wrestling as he doesn't seem to have too many fans backstage in AEW. The veteran star recently lost a massive world title match to Jon Moxley and might spend some time on the sidelines amidst growing concerns about his future.
What are your opinions on CM Punk's alleged backstage issues? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit the Oh...You Didn't Know podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.